An Ontario Superior Court judge has thrown out gun charges against a black motorist after ruling a Peel Regional Police officer engaged in racial profiling, citing “systemic” problems within the police service.
Justice Renu Mandhane issued the ruling earlier this spring, which led to the collapse of a firearms prosecution case against the black male driver of a Jeep that was pulled over and searched by a Peel police officer.
The traffic stop occurred in Brampton, Ont., on a weekend afternoon in October 2023. Const. Anand Gandhi pulled over the Jeep when an automated licence plate reader on his cruiser identified that the vehicle’s owner was facing drug charges in Toronto and had a licence suspension due to medical and administrative issues.
Gandhi accurately concluded that he had the authority to have the vehicle towed and impounded for seven days if the driver was the suspended owner, according to the ruling’s summary of the incident.
Gandhi arrested, cuffed, and patted down the driver before placing him in the back of his cruiser. He said it is “common practice” to handcuff and place suspended drivers in the back of a cruiser because it is a “safe place” to speak with them, the ruling said.
The judge noted that the officer had stopped another vehicle earlier that day for driving on a medical suspension but did not place the female driver in handcuffs or in the back of his cruiser. The officer said he chose to issue a ticket rather than impound her vehicle, because “she was just around the corner from her ill father’s residence.”
The judge said although the officer denied treating the driver differently because of his race, it is likely the colour of the accused’s skin was a factor due to “stereotypes about Black men being more prone to criminality and more dangerous than other people.”
“While there was no direct evidence of racial profiling here, there is ample circumstantial evidence from which I can draw an inference that Officer Gandhi’s decision to arrest and detain the accused was motivated in part by the fact that he is a Black man,” Mandhane said.
“Put differently, had the driver been, say, a White woman, I am confident that Officer Gandhi would not have exercised his discretion to handcuff and detain her in the back of his cruiser for over an hour for the sole purpose of writing up a summons.”
Gun Charges ‘Excluded’
Mandhane called the officer’s decision to handcuff and detain the accused “arbitrary and unreasonable,” saying that a brief roadside detention was all that was needed. She said the officer conducted a “pre-text search” of the Jeep without a warrant or legal authority.She also criticized the officer for “questioning” the accused by asking if all of the vehicle’s contents belonged to him after he asked to speak to a lawyer.
Consequently, Mandhane concluded that the evidence of the unlicensed rifle being discovered beneath a mat in the cargo section of the Jeep “must be excluded.” She also excluded all of the accused’s statements to police.
The accused appeared via video in a Brampton courtroom for an appearance on May 13 during which he was acquitted on all charges.
The judge was also critical of the police service as a whole in her ruling, saying Peel police acknowledged the existence of racial profiling nearly 20 years ago. They said at the time it had no place in law enforcement, Mandhane noted, but cited seven cases since 2007 that she said show it is still occurring.
The Epoch Times contacted Peel Regional Police for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.
She was appointed a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Brampton in May 2020 by then-Attorney General David Lametti.
